“There are still people trying to make this something it shouldn't be,” I insist.
“And they won't succeed,” Marcus replies.“But it's too late to stop things now.If we tell the crowd that there are to be no games now, I'm pretty sure Aetheria will burn in the riots that follow.Come on, you deserve to be beside me for this moment.”
He pulls me to the front of the box, so we're both there together, our hands joined as we stand before the crowd.A wave of noise washes over me, but thanks to the magic embedded in the box, Marcus's voice carries over them.
“My friends, my fellow citizens of Aetheria, today is a day I know many of you thought wouldn't come.Today is the day we reopen the colosseum, celebrating the magical might and martial prowess of Aetheria.Those things have always been at the heart of our civilization, and that hasn't changed just because we've become a republic.”
He pauses looking around at them.“The people of this city are blessed with magic more than anywhere else in the world.We have the finest warriors in the world.One of the greatest gladiators of the games stands beside me now.”
“Lyra!Lyra!Lyra!”The people in the stands take up my name as a chant, the sound of it echoing around the colosseum in a way that it hasn't since the last time I fought here.
“We must thank Lyra Thornwind for her part in helping to bring these games back,” Marcus says.“And I hope I played some small part in it, too.But this isn't about us today.No, this is about the beginning of a new tradition, a new form of the games, better suited to our republic.And it's about the men and women who choose to be here now, choose to fight on the sands, where before we forced them to.They will fight for your entertainment, but also for the glory of Aetheria.We must honor them, and all who have worked to put on these contests today.”
A cheer goes up around the Colosseum.Marcus waits it out with his hands raised.Because he still has my hand in his I must do the same.Only when there is silence does he bring our joined hands down in a sharp gesture.
“Citizens of Aetheria, you’ve waited a year, but you need wait no more!Let the games begin!”
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: KAI
The hardest part is waiting and watching, sitting in the preparation rooms beneath the colosseum, sneaking up to the gates to watch the bouts that go ahead of mine.My nerves are stretched tightly, and I must resist the urge to simply pace and burn off energy.I know I'll need it for my fight.Was this what it was like for Lyra and the others when they were waiting to go out there onto the sands?
Except that they knew they were risking their lives.I can't help feeling frustration at the rules that have been put in place for this round of the games.Outside I can see a pair of gladiators fighting.One is the experienced gladiator, Cesca, obviously there to try to find fame and fortune once again.She's short and dark haired, wearing armor so revealing it's almost scandalous.She carries a long slender sword, but the edges are not particularly sharp and the point certainly isn't.Her opponent is a young woman wielding a staff.The two are exchanging blows in a complex web of attack and defense, but whenever one of them gets through there isn't a spurt of blood, isn't the sense that one of them is going to die.The crowd seem appreciative but there isn't the building frenzy of bloodlust that I remember hearing among them in my time as a servant here.
Cesca finally ends the bout with her magic, sending a crackle of electricity along the steel of her sword to stun her opponent and send her to the ground.She touches the sword to her foe’s throat, but it's a symbolic gesture, claiming the victory rather than getting ready to finish her.A second or two later she lifts the sword from her opponent, bowing to the crowd before even helping her foe to her feet in the middle of the applause that follows.
The crowd seems to enjoy the show but there's something restrained about the chanting and the cheering, the applause and the stamping of feet.It's similar to the pit fights.People are appreciating the combat and the spectacle but it feels as though something is missing.
It's easy to see what as I touch the edge of my spear.It should be sharp enough to draw blood, but it isn’t.The point is completely blunted, making it essentially impossible for me to drive it through an opponent.The edges have some sharpness to them, so the crowd can get a taste of violence, but with healers on hand, I can't imagine anyone suffering a wound from it that would stop them.
Then there's my armor.In the old days, the gladiators wore scraps of armor that were largely symbolic.They didn't protect every vital area, and the protection they did offer was mostly just to draw out the combat.Now I feel as though most of the vulnerabilities I have are protected.I get a full breastplate, greaves, and arm guards.Lyra wouldn’t have worn anythinglikethis much armor onto the sands.
I know that this is all her doing, and I'm angry about it, because she’s robbed me of the chance for glory.If I win, people will say that I never took any risk to do it, and I won't have the triumph that comes with standing over the fallen body of a foe.I'll probably be expected to help Glacius back to his feet, the way Cesca did with her opponent.
I don't want to do that.I don't want to be the same as all the others here.This is my big chance, possibly my only chance.I fought my way up through the pits to be the main fight on the first day of the Colosseum's reopening.That's a big deal, and I must seize the opportunity.If I don't do something spectacular and memorable here today, I might not get to fight again.I need to do something that will make Domitian Blacksteel want to bring me back.Something that will attract the attention of the crowd in a way that the carefully controlled fights between past gladiators and newcomers cannot.
I have one option, something that I haven't used in the pits, because those fights are not to the death, merely until one of us is beaten bloody.Of course, the fights today aren’t meant to be to the death, either, but here, tradition and what the crowd really wants might overwhelm the technicalities of the rules.Lyra Thornwind is trying to make the games safe, but if someone’s killed in one of the bouts, I'm not sure there's much she can do about it.
Even if it's the only time I get to fight here, even if they decide the games are too dangerous because of it, I will always be remembered.
Using my powers, I extend a shimmering blade of force over the head of my spear, the way I would normally extend a plane of protective force around my hand to punch someone.But this is sharp edged enough to punch through armor.I won't be able to sustain it long, and while I'm using it I won't be able to use my powers for protection but, at the right moment, it might allow me to give the crowd exactly what they want.
Should I do it?It might be what the crowd wants but is it right?Can I really kill an opponent just for their entertainment and my own glory?I know I should feel ashamed at the very thought of it, but memories flow up through me of years of feeling like nothing here, of being treated like nothing.This might be my only chance to become someone important.And it’s Glacius.That helps, too.
“Kai?”a trainer calls out.I turn letting my powers fall, not wanting to let him see what I'm doing.I hope that he hasn't already, and isn't about to stop me from competing.
“Yes?”I say.
“It's time.”
I nod, walking up to the gates and waiting for them to open.An announcer is talking outside, a voice familiar from the pits.It seems everyone is flowing back to the real fights after being forced to spend months there.
“It's time for our main fight of the day, the one I'm sure you've all been waiting for.First, let me introduce a newcomer to the colosseum, but not to fighting.He's a champion of the local pit fights, he's a young man who can go far here.I give you, Kai!”
People cheer, and there's a thrill to hear that echo through the stadium as I walk out into it with my spear in one hand and my net in the other.I look around the crowd, seeing their interest but also their restlessness.They've been entertained by these exhibition bouts, but I can see they want more.
“Facing him will be a stalwart of the arena, a master of cold and ice.I give you Glacius!”
The gladiator walks out onto the sands, sword in one hand, shield in the other, a rime of frost following him with every step.He looks at me, pointing with his sword.
